Legacies and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina both feature a powerful heroine, a love triangle, high school, and a sense of doing the right thing. Legacies is the second spin-off of the popular The Vampire Diaries, and the main heroine (Hope) is the daughter of two important characters from the first spin-off, The Originals.
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is an adaptation of the life of Sabrina Spellman, a character who was first introduced to the world via the Archie Comics. It is in the same vein as Riverdale in which we see Archie and his friends in much darker story than the comics. It is important to note that Sabrina’s show is adapted from a darker version of the comics as well (some of the panels from these morbid and macabre comics can be seen during the shows title sequence.)
With so many similarities between Legacies and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, there are many differences as well. But what did Legacies do better than The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and vice versa?
Legacies Does Better: Connection to an Epic Story
As we can see from the title, Legacies, the show connects to a larger epic story and to the past. Hope is the legacy of two supernatural beings, who were characters in both The Vampire Diaries and The Originals: Klaus Mikaelson (one of the original vampires and a hybird) and Hayley Marshall (an alpha werewolf and a hybird). In addition, her grandmother was one of the original witches. Other characters like Josie and Lizzie are also legacies; they are the last members of the Gemini Coven. On top of all this, the boarding school is the Salvatore mansion, the site of so many scenes in The Vampire Diaries.
All of these roots help establish a feeling of importance and connection. While the larger connection to the past and an epic story is also in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, it is more strongly and better represented in Legacies.
Sabrina Does Better: Tension Between Two Worlds
Sabrina is half-human and half-witch. Simply by this, she does represent an internal tension between the two worlds. This tension is external as well since she’s made to attend the supernatural school, which she doesn’t initially want to attend. She brokers a compromise: She will attend both the supernatural and the human school. Another element of tension is that her love interests also represent that world; her ex-boyfriend was human, and her most recent boyfriend was a warlock. Additionally, the witches are afraid of the humans finding out about them and the persecution that would follow.
While in Legacies, the Salvatore School for the Young and Gifted was partially created to protect them from humans, we don’t see much threat coming from the human world. In addition, the characters are so firmly rooted in the supernatural world (for the most part), there doesn’t exist much tension between the two worlds for them.
Legacies Does Better: More Fleshed-Out Friends
While The Vampire Diaries had even more fleshed-out friends with their own character arcs and evolutions, Legacies is still better at this than Sabrina. Already in the second season of Legacies, friends that seemed more stock characters are becoming more interesting. For instance, Kaleb, the young vampire who encouraged the worst in his vampire friend, MG, has developed from a potential villain to a hero with a huge heart. Upon learning that MG is a ripper and his role in encouraging that tendency, Kaleb accepts responsibility and seeks to help his friend, even bringing MG home with him to meet his family.
Whereas in Sabrina, we have several potentially interesting friends, but (aside from Prudence), they remain as flat as cardboard print-outs.
Sabrina Does Better: The Love Triangle
Legacies attempts love triangles, most notably the recent Josie-Landon-Hope; however, we remain unconvinced. We know that Landon loves Hope; even his subconscious evoked in Season 2 Episode 7 told us so, frequently and repeatedly throughout the whole episode.
In Sabrina, it’s unsure whom she loves more and would choose (her human ex or her warlock boyfriend). She loves both. In a way, we could see her love of both men representing her love of both parts of her nature–the human side (Harvey) and the supernatural side (Nick).
Legacies: More Evolved First Love
While Sabrina does do a better love triangle, the first love between Hope and Landon seems to be more complete. This means that both characters feel more fleshed out, and that both bring their insecurities and awkwardness to the relationship. Their love is deep, and their wounds are deep.
Harvey paled in comparison to Landon. As invested as he was in his love to Sabrina, it quickly changed once he found what she was. Put in a similar situation, it’s unlikely that Landon would have acted that way to Hope or anyone he considered important to his life.
Sabrina: Darker Tone, More Complicated Heroine
Sabrina is often convinced that she knows what to do, and she’s willing to try any magic in order to do it. She even finds a way to bring part of Harvey’s dead brother back from the dead, with disastrous consequences. Once she killed a fellow witch to cast a spell; she resurrected the witch, but still that is pretty harsh. Sabrina has darkness and power in her, and she’s constantly negotiating her two natures.
While Hope from Legacies is complicated as well, she is more determined to do and be good. The tone also is considerably less dark than Sabrina.
Legacies: Representation of a Variety of Supernatural Beings
With Malivore sending out several supernatural beings in pursuit of Landon, we meet a large variety of them. We met a unicorn infected with a parasite capable of mind control, a spinx, a zombie, a dragon, a necromancer, and more. In addition, we have had characters representing other beings, like Landon as a phoenix.
In Sabrina, we have mainly witches and warlocks.
Sabrina: Better Look at Family Love
While Sabrina doesn’t do the best job with the representation of friends, the representation of family is different. We have Sabrina’s two aunts, who are just as enjoyable to watch as Sabrina. We also have Sabrina’s cousin, Ambrose. These three characters are smart, spunky, and have their own complicated backstories. Additionally, they all love each other fiercely. Even Sabrina’s mom, a ghost, comes back to help and protect her daughter. Those are strong bonds.
In Legacies, we only see a couple examples of family love. We would love to see more of them.
Legacies: Heroine Is An Outsider
Hope starts off as an outsider, although this is changing. Based on her tragic past, she believes that people who become close to her will get hurt, so she doesn’t get close to people. Also, she knows that her family name holds both power and fear. While she wants to do good, to prove that she is good, she’s afraid to hurt others. Due to her cautiousness, unlike Sabrina, she’s isn’t likely to be used by others.
Sabrina may seem like an outsider, but she’s readily accepted by both worlds. She helps create a club in her human school, and she is sought after in her supernatural school.
Sabrina: More Profound Look at Social and Societal Issues
In Sabrina, our main heroine constantly questions the patriarchy, which she sees alive and well in her supernatural school. For instance, there can’t be a witch as the director of the school. Why is that? Sabrina isn’t comfortable with an answer that says–because it’s always been that way. She challenges that, which ultimately leads to change. Additionally, she stands up to bullies and supports her friend who identifies as trans.
Legacies does have characters whose sexuality is fluid, which is great. However, the show hasn’t dived into the social and societal issues as profoundly as Sabrina did.
